ANIMAL Aid is urging the public not to take part in the ALS ice bucket challenge, as the Motor Neurone Disease Association – the main beneficiary of the craze in the UK – funds experiments on animals.

Such tests include those using genetically modified mice bred to suffer severe motor impairment and muscle weakness.

Quite apart from the appalling suffering it inflicts on animals, such research has repeatedly failed to produce effective treatments for humans.

For genuine progress to be made in treating this devastating condition, charities like the Motor Neurone Disease Association must focus their resources entirely on humane and effective non-animal research.